Head Coach Carrie Powell and the Georgia Northwestern Lady Bobcats volleyball team traveled to Powell, Tenn. on Saturday for a season-opening tri-match against Alice Lloyd College and host Crown College.
The Navy-and-White lost their first match of the day to the home team in heartbreaking fashion, three games to one.
GNTC claimed a 25-22 victory in the first set and had their chances to put it away, but dropped three straight sets in heartbreaking fashion, 27-25, 26-24, 26-24.
However, the Lady Bobcats rallied in style in the day’s second match with a straight-set, 25-22, 25-18, 25-22 victory over the Lady Eagles, a member of the NAIA’s Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Former LaFayette Lady Rambler Sabrina Garcia was an offensive leader for the Lady Bobcats with a dozen kills on the afternoon to go with 14 digs. Casey Chapman (North Murray) had 10 total kills and four assists to go with two digs, an ace and a block. Holly Mount (Heritage) had eight kills and seven blocks on the day. Erin Hurley (Ridgeland) finished with three kills, five blocks, three digs and an ace, while Rachel McGill (Ringgold) collected 26 assists to go with her seven aces, four kills, three digs and two blocks.
Other highlights from the two matches included Ashley Bradley (Ridgeland) with 13 digs, Layna Jenkins (Ridgeland) with three aces, Sara Birge (Chattooga) with eight aces and 10 digs, Mikiah Treece (home-school) with 17 digs, four kills and three aces and Katlyn Bishop (Heritage) with one dig.
“We really played amazing and I’m very proud of them,” Powell said. “We really didn’t know what to expect. We even tried a few different lineups and some new things and they really adjusted well. Every single game against Crown, we got down by about five points, but managed to come back.
We just couldn’t find a way to get past them those last three games.
“Then, having to play back-to-back matches, I thought we really played together well. They all contributed no matter what position they played.”
GNTC (1-1) will return to the court this Thursday (Sept. 4) with a 7 p.m. home match against Welch College out of Nashville, Tenn. The Rossville Athletic Center (R.A.C.) serves as the home court for the Lady Bobcats.
“We were running late (on Saturday) so we didn’t have a whole lot of time to warm up and the girls were a bunch of nervous wrecks,” Powell said. “But seeing how well we played, I think it gives us all a little confident going into Thursday.”